These are terms the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are reportedly prohibited from using in any official documents intended for next year’s budget.

The nation’s top public health agency was informed at a meeting with senior officials overseeing the CDC budget Thursday that in lieu of “science-based” or “evidence-based,” agency officials are to say the “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.”

Some terms were not given alternatives.

According to an analyst speaking on condition of anonymity, Alison Kelly, a senior leader in the CDC’s Office of Financial Services, led the meeting.

Kelly did not explain the reason the terms were being banned; she was just the messenger, according to the original report that first appeared Saturday in the Washington Post.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) disputes this story.

It claims that reporting particular vocabulary has been banned is a “complete mischaracterization.”

“HHS will continue to use the best scientific evidence available to improve the health of all Americans. HHS also strongly encourages the use of outcome and evidence data in program evaluations and budget decisions.”

What is not a mischaracterization is that since Donald Trump took office, there has been a concerted campaign to reverse any vestige of former President Barack Obama’s legacy, from climate change, education, civil rights, to foreign policy.

One area the present administration has struggled with is how to refer to Americans’ sexual orientation, gender identity, and abortion rights.

Instead of just accepting the way its predecessor left it, the Trump administration is changing federal policies and how it collects information about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

For example, HHS dropped questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in two surveys of the elderly.

The department’s Administration for Children and Families archived a page outlining federal services available to LGBT people and their families, including adoption methods, and information about how sex trafficking victims can receive help.

Earlier this month saw the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) webpage taken down.

Six member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned because the Trump proposed cutting funds to AIDS treatment programs.

Two years ago, the state of Florida banned the terms “climate change” and “global warming” in official documents and statements.

An April piece in Politico reported current supervisors at the Energy Department’s international climate office ordering staff to refrain from using the phrases “climate change,” “emissions reduction” or “Paris Agreement” in written memos, briefings, or other written communication.

English author George Orwell is either rolling in his grave or laughing at us from the afterlife.

Ted Millar is poet and teacher. His poetry has been in featured in myriad literary journals, including Caesura, Circle Show, Cactus Heart, Third Wednesday, and The Voices Project. He is also a contributor to Op-Ed News and Liberal Nation Rising.